Florida's African Connection

Florida Geological Survey ^ | Summer, 2015 | Jonathan D. AArthur

[JimSEA]

Now, let's see how many will only read the title before posting. ;-)

The breakup of supercontinents makes for interesting geological connections. The most famous are the Africa/South America connection which gave Alfred Wegener the idea of continental drift and the North American/Scotland connection which was eventually to figure in James Hatten's discontinuity which was among the geologic clues giving him the idea of deep time.

[ETL]

Would it surprise you to learn that some of the deep basement rocks underlying Florida were once part of Africa?

Same is true for many regions along the east coast, including New York City, which was once attached to what would later become Morocco.

[cripplecreek]

The northern Appalachians are largely made up of the same rocks under Ireland.

[ETL]

Here's a very rough map of the world ~250 million years ago. The east coast of America at that time was relatively close to parallel with the equator. Northwest Africa was attached to our what is now our east coast. The climate was tropical for much of the US.

[RJS1950]

Florida geology isn’t really African, African geology is North/South American.

North and South America moved away from Africa just like modern man walked out of Africa and left the stupid behind.

[cripplecreek]

A big ocean like that must have produced some monster hurricanes.

[ETL]

Scotland for sure. The Catskills are basically a stack of erosional remains from a once lofty mountain range raised during one of the 3 major collision events leading to the formation of the super-continent Pangea. Scotland has an identical set of sedimentary rock layers on their side of the Atlantic. Same composition and age.

[manc]

Was about to say the same.

Funny how we have parts of African but the article does not state how Africa has some of the good ole USA

[ETL]

North and South America are believed to have collided during the formation of a much older super-continent known as “Rhodina”, roughly 1 billion years ago, as opposed to 450-250 mya, the duration of the Pangea forming event.

[ETL]

...N and S America remained stuck together for a very long time as part of the southern hemisphere super-continent of "Gondwanaland".

[Larry Lucido]

That might explain all the moonshiners. :)

[cripplecreek]

I love the ancient geology. In Michigan’s upper peninsula are the Porcupine mountains that were once much taller. The ancient rift valley that makes up the deepest part of Lake Superior. I live atop the Michigan basin that is surrounded by the Niagara escarpment which is visible from near Green Bay, along the southern upper peninsula shore down separating Lake Huron from Georgian bay before going underground till it shows itself where the Niagara fall fall over it.

[ETL]

I love the ancient geology.

Yes, it is truly fascinating once you start reading up and learning about it. You can also watch great TV series on the subject at YouTube, such as How The Earth Was Made...

https://www.youtube.com/results?lclk=long&search_query=how+the+earth+was+made&filters=long

[ETL]

You do indeed have some ancient rocks in your part of the country. Below is a map of the underlying "basement" bedrock of North America. aka, the North American Craton. Estimated ages are displayed on the various segments. The continent grew piece by piece over several billion years. The Earth itself is ~4.6 billion. "b.y." = billion years

[ETL]

[cripplecreek]

Isle Royale is one of my favorite landforms. It also shows why glaciers moved so far so fast in this part of the world. The rock was already folded into parallel lines and full of sediment which acted like lubricant under the glaciers.

[edpc]

The Matterhorn also contains rocks from the African continent.

[zeestephen]

Question for anyone...

Was ancient Antarctica ever warm enough, or wet enough, to support plant life and land-based animals?

Interesting to think about fossils - or even organic remains - buried under miles of compacted ice and snow.

[ETL]

Interesting, because further east, where the folding is the result of the Pangea formation process, the folds are perpendicular to the glacial grooves and scratches. I guess the folding in that region (Isle Royale region) occurred during some older tectonic collision event(s).

[ETL]

Dinosaur bones have been found there. (Antarctica)
___________________________________________

Also...

Antarctic Fossils Paint a Picture of a Much Warmer Continent
Insects, ferns flourished, then flickered out millions of years ago as the tundra retreated:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111913